Brian the Maker Book Review from MorbidbookS!
I’m not a huge reader of fiction books. I generally read nonfiction. I mean, I used to be. Way back I would read up to three books at a time – a bit of James Herbert, switch to HP Lovecraft, back to James, move to Graham Masterton, and so on. I had a giant collection of paperbacks in the ‘90s, but then I started reading dark history stuff, and film-based nonfiction, and that was it. I only drifted back to read some early David Moody, then some extreme fiction here and there.
Ahhh, extreme fiction… where do I begin? Carlton Mellick III? Well, he’s bizarro, and a bit extreme. The fact he’s well known enough but is a guy thinking up random concepts and writing them in a nonsense way. Same for a number of those ladies and gents in the ol’ bizarro world. Not my thing. I tend to think of Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee. Dirty nasty shit sandwiches in-between pages of grubby brutality. That is extreme.
I respect extreme fiction that can make a story stand up among the gore and insanity, to bring out a wonderful rewarding conclusion. Matt Shaw, who I met at a Horror Convention, interviewed, then did a cameo in a movie for (see interview with author Matt Shaw here), whom I figured was one of a kind in this field.
That was until I found out about MorbidbookS having bought a pile of them second-hand a few months back. Extreme, bizarro, and releasing authors that can tell a story. There’s Dani Brown, Rev Steven Rage, Alex Johnson, all underground writers who aren’t really known in the genre yet deliver the steaming dripping goods on a regular.
My focus falls on Gregor Cole and his exceptionally grim paperback, Brian the Maker from 2014. This is (so far) the most intense serial killer novel I have ever read. This nasty freakshow takes no prisoners in its descriptions, yet never goes as far as to glorify just for shock tactics.
Brian the Maker is a tall well-built guy whom as we meet him is driving away from his home — a severed head by his side for pleasure. He guesses the police will be all over his flat and discovering his incredible mass of human sculptures. We have a briefing of how it all began for him, then we break to the officers in his apartment “…. The officer nearest the sofa took a corner of the throw and whipped it back. They both stood agog in shock at what was underneigh. A mass of tangled limbs and metal rods fashioned into the shape of a two-seater couch. Hands and feet planted firmly to the floor, butchered rows of thighs as seat cushions and severed arms upright as back support...”
That’s only the beginning of what they find. But the story isn’t an aftermath with flash backs, because Brian checks into a motel and begins his construction of human cadaver creations once again…
Brian takes a maid and the girl off reception as his first two, then decides to slaughter and use everybody in the motel, whilst the cops are scrambling to get a lead on his whereabouts.
The characters are well-formed and solid. Brian of course has his reasons, and we have a policeman, Jennings, who gradually builds throughout the story to his inevitable meeting with Brian. The most outstanding character in Brian the Maker is Michael, who works at the station and steals trophies from crime scenes. His latest reward is a bottle of distilled blood which he drinks, and it gives him power beyond his wildest imagination. He is changed from a nervous type to a confident violent man who will kill if it means getting his hands of the secret of whatever formula is in the blood.
To be honest, I think the proof-reader was wrecked out of his/her mind. There were so many incorrect words and such but so what? It’s all-out punk horror hardcore. Gregor Cole is a brute force writer straight out of jolly ol’ England. His other published works are Pickles and assorted short tales in anthology books.
Brian the Maker doesn’t outstay its welcome (111 pages) and gives you a fair few memories of carnage. Most scenes involve naked men and nude women, sexual torture, and just all-out explicit chaos. This should be picked up by TetroVideo and turned into a film.
Book: Brian the Maker
Edited by: Steven Scott Nelson
Written by: Gregor Cole
Art by: Steven Scott Nelson
Year: 2014
Published by: MorbidbookS
Brain the Maker
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